Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-01-07

that Judgment. This is especially s.
when property of great value is involved
The land involved in the case tried Wa
easily worth, suppose, (S300,000) thre
hundred thousand dollars. 4 day or s,
after the disposition of the case l ad
dressed to the leading counsel for the de
fendant corporation the following letter
and received the answer which follows it
| ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE,
Nov. -, 1855.
Col. James N. Anderson, Waco, Tex.
DEAR SIR hoped to see you again OF
! Saturday evening before you left the city
but failed to do SO. l have assumed al
along, feeling authorized, perhaps, by
conversations between Us, that the case
of the State of Texas VS.. j NJ. Day ct al.
can be taken, as soon as possible, to the
supreme court, taking it to Tyler, if it car
be got ready, if not, taken to Calves
| ton, SO that there can be ar
early disposition of it. would suppose
it to be to the interest of the defendant
as we'll as OF the state to have it speedily
disposed of. do not think it Will take 9
great while to get out the records and
suppose it will take no considerable time
to brief it, after the case has been dis
cussed to the extent TO which it has.
hope that it will suit you to concur with
me in seeking an early disposition OF the
case on appeal. am, very truly,
JOHN D. TEMPLEToN.
OFFICE OF
ANDERSON, FLINT & ANDERSON,
WACO, Ten, ov. %, 1856.
Hon. John d. Templeton, Austin, Tex.
DEAR SIR-Your favor OF 22d received,
From the beginning of the above entitled
cause until the present, have regarded
time as highly essential to the interest of
defendan. Eighteen or twenty thousand
cattle growing on grass, hung high up in
litigation, is much to be preferred to
grass trampled under foot by declara-
ton of no title-made by supreme court.
Hence, we will agree to no fastening of
proceedings. The state is not suffering,
and if 1t were we are in no mood to hasten
alienation. Truly yours, [Signed
JAMES NJ. ANDERSON.
Instead of accepting the proposition
and fastening decision by the supreme
court to reverse the ruling because
wrong, an appeal is taken from the decree
of District Judge Walker to the Twentieth
legislature, certainly because his ruling
through the public press of Austin on all
mankind that an "spplication will be
made to the next legislature for the pas
sage of an act or acts, as the case may be,
for the relief of Texas veterans, and the
holders of lands located or patented, or
simply located, by virtue of veteran
certificates in Greer county, Tex.
The object and purpose and extent of
said act or acts will De to validate and
confirm to the owner or owners the title
to all lands in Greer county, Tex, which
have been located or patented by virtue
of veteran certificates which have been IS
sued under the act OF March 10, 1881,
to confirm the title to lands in Greer
county located by virtue Of veteran Ger
tlticates and which the att0rney-gener2l
has sought to disturb"
Now, the alto -nev-general, l may say
here once for all, has never sought TO dis
turb any valid title. He has simply
sought judicial unmasking
of the so-called patents and
pretended titles, which were being used,
as have stated above, for mischievous
purposes. Why it is proposed to leave
out of the scope of the benevolence of the
Legislature the holders of certificates
granted under the vetern act of 1879, is
not disclosed and i, is hard to conjecture.
The certificates ere as meritorious as
those granted under the act of 1881, being
granted to the same class of persons and
for the same supposed services
In this matter there should be no mis-
take about the meaning of terms. This
notice speaks of confirming titles and
patents. Now, be it under
stood that there are no titles to con-
firm and no patents to validate. |
The patents and the claim of title made |
under them are and haye al ways been
void, abso utely, unqualifedly and IN
void. Void not only as to |
the government, but as to all men. They |
are "mere vacuities'' The patents are |
no evidences of title to anything or |
against anything. An Indian squaw or
her naked pappoose could grant Just as
good title as the pretended patentees |
have. The amount of it all is that the
legislature will be asked to give to the |
claimants under the so-called patents the
lands they claim. The legislature has
the same right to give it to any other man
as it has to the pretended patentees, The
men is that the other men have not at
tempted to appropriate the land in viola
lion of plain statutes, while the patentees
have attempted to appropriate it in viola
lion Of the plaiu statutes. Can the legis-
allure donate lands to few favored in-
liyiduals and corporations that have been
appropriated to common school purposes?
f it can do so will it? What are the
,quities of these claimants to the land?
rne certificates, the location of which
hey seek to have validated, We're all
ssued more than two and one-half years
lfter the reservation OF the lard,
10 that there never was time
when they could have been located there
~. No man procured or bought one of
hese certificates, relying Cd legal right
o locate it on the land. Had the certf
ates been issued first, then the land re-
erved, there might have been some talk
f an equitable claim; but that was not
he case. Hundreds of thousands of
ores of certificates are outstanding,
many OF them in the hands OF innocent
purchasers, that were issued before the
eseEvation of Greer county. If there
xist an equity, moral right, right in
conscience to locate any certificates on
he land, IT would seem to be in their
avOr rather than of those certificates,
Oming into existence when the
rantees knew the reservation had long
ince been made, but no kind OF certif ,
ates should go there. IL Is q passing
TRANCE state of facts on which to seek to ;
round a moral right. The land was re- q,
erved; locations on it were forbidden;
ut locations were nevertheless made, !,
nd the claimants of those locations now !
~ to the legislature that because we !
ave made the locations in violation OF !,
Nv we therefore have an equity which !
on should mature into legal right and =
rotect against disturbance oy the sttor- !;
ey-general. Such legislation would be ,
most palpable premium paid in :
nd for violating the laws .